Local e-Planning Blueprint - individual Council projects aimed at enhancing online planning systems, including such services as online DA information, tracking and assessment. Business operators in participating Council areas are now able to obtain comprehensive, and easy-to-understand information on planning and building related activities, as well as the ability to submit, track and be notified about their planning-related applications online.
The outcomes from the Local e-Planning stream demonstrate a comprehensive and widespread increase in the improved online service delivery for small business. As shown in the [Council project matrix], a range of online services are now available as a result of the RTB program.
Through the work undertaken by participating Councils, sustainable reforms have been delivered by:
- reducing the burden by small business applicants of layers of work, and assisting with the transfer and provision of regulatory information.
- creation of administration efficiencies for small businesses such as the reduction of administration effort in hardcopy management and transfer.
- reduction in time and costs by providing the opportunity to minimise processing times, faster approvals, and reduced holding costs.
- supporting smaller businesses and businesses that work across jurisdictions.
Specifically, the consortium Councils have made one of more of the following web-based services available in order to meet community demand:
- online information, checklists and guidelines about the planning process, particularly development applications
- online forms, including Local SmartForms that help applicants to complete the necessary information correctly, and reducing the need for rework or costly delays
- online tracking of development applications and related documentation
- automatic notification of application outcomes
- online mapping tools for a visual guide to land use
- interactive local planning documents to help potential applicants understand planning requirements and conditions of use on their property.
This program has not just been about improving council business services such as online DAs, IT systems and efficiency improvements. It’s about supporting local small business growth and economic development. The overall program, as well as individual Council projects, has contributed to a more positive climate for the business community in dealing with Government. At the local level, it has also improved local government’s image in the community as a supporter of small and home-bases businesses.
The RTB consortium of Councils has worked with a wide range of stakeholders including small business associations, state leaders, local groups, IT vendors, business process management experts and other RRIF consortia to ensure that participating councils and their small business communities have access to a “best-of-breed” smorgasbord of relevant options.
Under the Local e-Planning stream, Councils have implemented a range of systems, processes and practices across different back-office systems and infrastructure. These can be adopted by any Council with compatible systems.
A number of elements of the program provided clear opportunities to link with participating Councils’ management and strategic planning processes.
Each Council’s project was subject to a comprehensive scoping process. This scoping phase, while a specific project process, also contributed significantly to Council project teams’ awareness and capacity to link their project and the wider program for their Council’s corporate plans.
The program model also encouraged the formation of a multi-disciplinary project team within each Council. This allowed each Council project to identify and draw on a breadth and depth of talent and resourcing from management and staff. This also ensured that the project’s activities were more comprehensively embedded in the core business, and therefore the associated strategic and corporate planning objectives, of the Council.
Councils were also encouraged to detail a benefits realisation plan to ensure that their project identified and delivered outcomes consistent with Council plans. To this end, a benefits calculator tool was introduced to assist General Managers and senior decision-makers in building tangible linkages back to Councils’ corporate plans.
The scoping phase of the project was the most important step in the process. To assist Councils in structuring their project around business improvement principles, a set of steps was developed that identified a generic, end-to-end process flow for any kind of regulation, application or compliance requirement: inform, apply, process, decision. All Council project modules referenced these key steps.
Specific efficiency improvements from participating Councils include:
- Electronic completion and lodgement of forms to give faster access to data reducing the risk of application error and improving lodgement times for applicants.
- Provision of online mapping data to remove elapsed time between enquiry and response with customers able to source information themselves in their own time.
- Shorter application processing times because staff don’t have to spend time assessing unsuitable and incomplete/wrong applications, therefore saving direct and indirect cost to applicants due to delays
- Development of hybridised forms (SmartForms) to reduce complexity, incorporating plain English instruction and minimising the number of required application forms from customers
- Tracking of applications online without having to try and contact the relevant Council officer.
Attachments
Summary Local e-Planning
Local e-Planning Council projects matrix
